Kingdom of Kerma

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The Kingdom of Kerma was a state in Nubia from around 2500 BCE to about 1520 BCE. It was based in the city of Kerma in Upper Nubia and emerged as a major centre during the Middle Kingdom period in Egypt but with a distinct civilization (for example very fine and original ceramics have been found).

The site of Kerma includes both an extensive town and a cemetery consisting of large tumuli. George Reisner believed that Kerma was originally the base of an Egyptian governor and that these Egyptian rulers evolved into the independent monarchs of Kerma. Modern scholars think the fort as a trading outpost: it is too small and too far away from the known borders of ancient Egypt. Reisner's interpretation was based on the presence of inscribed Egyptian statues in the large burials, which he thought belonged to those named individuals. The errors of Reisner were also due to prejudices of the 1920's. At this time, archaeologists tended to minimize all the discoveries proving the existence of a black civilization.

Due to the overwhelmingly predominant Nubian material culture and burial practices at the site, these statues and other Egyptian objects found at Kerma are now thought to have come there through trade. The level of affluence at the site demonstrates the power of the Kingdom of Kerma, especially during the Second Intermediate Period when the Nubians threatened the southern borders of Egypt.

During the First Intermediate Period the Egyptian presence in Lower Nubia disappeared, and when Egyptian sources again mention the region at the beginning of the New Kingdom, they report Kerma in control of both Upper and Lower Nubia.

Under Tuthmosis I Egypt made several campaigns south, which resulted with the annexation of Nubia and brought an end to the Kingdom of Kerma.

Currently, Matthieu Honegger is following the work of Charles Bonnet at the Kerma site, and the pace of discoveries has been striking.

References

Bonnet, Charles et. al, 2005, Des Pharaons venus d'Afrique : La cachette de Kerma. Citadelles & Mazenod.
Bonnet, Charles, 1986, Kerma, Territoire et Métropole, Institut Français d’Archaéologie Orientale du Caire.
Kendall, Timothy 1997. Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Inst. Washington D.C.
Reisner, G. A. 1923, Excavations at Kerma I-III/IV-V. Harvard African Studies Volume V. Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge Mass.

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